I read to know that I am not alone, and I write so that others may share that same revelation. This remains the essence of literature, and certainly that of asynchronous communication in the modern world of technology. However, there is a central purpose to writing, often overlooked; it is our very ability to think that is maintained and strengthened by this exercise.

Attention spans, critical thinking, and availability of real-time connection are fragmented, this is inevitable for now.

Those who recover will do so by writing, sharing, and gleaning valid feedback from the human process.

Personal expression as an extension of thought itself is a set of learned and practiced skills, honed and improved by mentorship, training, and most of all experiences, successes, and failures in equal measure.

Communications as a professional discipline, in the service of sales and persuasion, may have its place, but that is no longer the whole or essential story.

Among those with whom you wish to sell, inspire, and learn, it begins by exercising and training your thinking processes and working out what you think.

Artificial Intelligence language tools provide a dangerous end-run around this basic living necessity.

Deferring our human language to machines is counter-intuitive and anathema to the stated aim of critical-thinking and communication between people.

The nuances of effective communication are meant to transport both the author (giver) and the audience (receiver) slightly out of their own frame of reference, to embrace slowing down and listening to a different perspective, for a short set of moments.

Whether any outcome arises from this departure of the mindset, had it not been for the interruption (intervention) of words and external thoughts, will remain to be seen for the rest of a lifetime.

We never know when, at some future time, a resonance will be struck by some message that stuck with us.

Though we may hear it only once, the message may ring true much later, and its meaning could span days to decades!

The flexing of the mind, in the service of changing the mindset, is the neurological and behavioral science within each one of us, that is the core functional purpose in question.

This is why good (not to say ‘effective’ in this case) writing is so crucial to keep us connected, and to help us keep up with the creeping evasion of our humanity.

Because we don’t really know the (desired) effects, in the minds of the beholders, we must do a service to the thinking itself, with authenticity and transparency.

Saving grace, we write with well-intentioned discipline and learn to know that we are still alive.

We apply our thoughts and our words to one another to share in the common human condition.

We listen for that quiet (or loud) voice that eternally cries out to declare that we exist, and that we love others existing, too.